Year In Review - 2017's IBM CDO Strategy Summits

2017 has been a big year for Chief Data Officers, and as ever, Corinium and IBM have strived to support them in driving forward the development of their C-Suite role and tackle the most pertinent issues they face.

A big part of our efforts have been focused on our bi-annual invite-only Chief Data Officer Strategy Summits, the third year of running these events, and 2017 once again saw senior data executives meet in San Francisco in Spring, and Boston in the Fall.

A particular highlight of this event for me was seeing a very full room for our ‘Data Divas’ roundtable breakfast, an open networking session open to all delegates, both men and women, to come together to discuss the importance of women in data. Seeing the room so full was a great testament to the commitment of the community to do more to encourage the next generation of female graduates to consider a career in data and technology, and identify the challenges that still exist.

IBM CDO Webinar

August saw us host the first ever webinar linked to the physical IBM CDO events. Hosted by IBM’s Global Chief Data Officer, Inderpal Bhandari, the webinar shared the steps that he has taken during his tenure at IBM to create a truly Cognitive Enterprise, as well as top tips for you to utilize in your own organization’s data program, and also took attendee’s questions live.

After the great success of the first webinar, we have many more planned for next year, so be sure to watch this space and I hope you are able to take advantage of this fantastic resource in 2018!

IBM CDO Summit, Fall

In the Fall, we head to the East Coast for IBM CDO Summit, Fall. This was the largest event we have ever held, with over 135 C-suite & VP level data & analytics executives attending. We were delighted to be joined by Jim Kavanaugh, IBM’s SVP of Transformation and Operations.

At the event, Inderpal released his much anticipated ‘CDO Blueprint’. Drawing on Inderpal’s experience of multiple previous CDO roles, as well as his work leading IBM in their drive to become a ‘cognitive business’, the blueprint outlines the work undertaken, and uses the example of IBM to show data leaders how they can begin to adopt cognition for their own enterprises.

The big theme that I would take from the 2017 events, was the shift of focus of the attendees. At the events, we run four simultaneous tracks of highly interactive discussion groups. These are grouped according to maturity, drawing on IBM’s CDO Lookbook, and are clustered by Function Builder, Data Integrator, Business Optimizer, and Market Innovator.

Attendees are free to move between the tracks for the sessions of their choice, and between the first event at the start of the year, and the second event in the latter part of the year, I noticed a big shift. Reflecting the consolidation of the CDO’s position, we saw less attendees focused on establishing their function, and much higher interest in the delivering value to the enterprise through the Business Optimizer and Market Innovator tracks.

What to expect in 2018

Put simply, you can expect more. More data leaders at the events, more content, more insight, more connections made, more webinars, more everything!

We will be returning to San Francisco in Spring, and Boston in the Fall, so be sure to check on eye on the websites for when dates are confirmed and get them into your diaries. The event is open to senior executives leading data & analytics strategy within their organization, so if this is you, be sure to register your interest in an invitation to attend in 2018!